A Terrific Post! I highly recommend reading it! Well done!

Quote
AlbaNY_Ram
I take exception to this passage: "Typically, the mark of a good draft pick is a second contract. If a team doesn’t give a player a second contract before or after their rookie contract expires, it’s usually a sign that the player didn’t do enough to earn a long-term extension – unless they priced themselves out of the team’s range in free agency."

If the mark of a good draft pick is a second contract then the Rams are actually drafting well. It's just that for the most part those second contracts come from some other team. And that is no accident: it's actually the Rams' strategy.

Looking at the 2019 draft: Taylor Rapp and David Edwards signed their second contracts with the Bills, Darrell Henderson and Bobby Evans are with the Jags, David Long is with the Raiders, Greg Gaines is with the Bucs, Nick Scott is with the Bengals, and Dakota Allen is with the Broncos.

Every player drafted by the Rams in 2019 got a second contract. By that standard the 2019 draft is an overwhelming success.

But none of them are with the Rams! Well, that is by design.

Rather than pay guys the going rate for their second contract the Rams draft their replacements ahead of time and let guys hit FA after their rookie deal is done. Then another wave of cheap labor steps in and the Rams accumulate comp picks for the guys that left, which allows them to feed the pipeline with more cheap labor!

How did the Rams manage to keep on winning when all 8 guys drafted in 2019 left? It's because they drafted Akers, Lewis, Burgess, Fuller, and Anchrum (among others) in 2020 , then drafted Jones, Brown III, Brown IV in '21, and then drafted Durant, Williams, Lake, Kendrick, and Yeast in '22.

They let the 2019 draft class go because they had guys on their roster on their rookie deals ready to take their place.

And the Rams got the maximum 4 comp picks in the 2023 draft.

Criticize the Rams because their 2019 draft class is gone? Personally, I say congratulate them!!

edit: The comp picks the Rams got in the 2023 draft were the 167th, 171st, 177th, and 251st.

They traded the 167th for the 174th and the 259th.
Then they traded 171 for 175 and 252.
Then they traded 252 and a 2024 6th for 215.
And then they traded 251 and Allen Robinson for 234

174: Warren McClendon
175: Davis Allen
177: Puka Nacua
215: Zach Evans
234: Jason Taylor II
259: Desjuan Johnson

Any analysis of the 2019 draft has to include the downstream results in the 2023 draft.